This floral-and-fruit-juice-tasting gem of a coffee hails from the Adado Cooperative’s 1100 or so members, residing in and around the Kolisha kebele (neighborhood ) within the woreda (district) of Bule, not too far to the east of Yirgacheffe town. Adado joined the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union (YCFCU) in the year it was founded, 2002.

Adado is doing some pretty unique processing, really quite similar to what Central American farms have been calling honey process. Using minimal water for depulping using an eco-pulper, the coffee is neither washed nor pile fermented, but simply taken directly from the depulper to the drying tables, where workers regularly and actively turn the coffee to ensure it dries evenly.

For this reason, we’ve elected to dub the lot “Tej” processed. It’s a play on the naming convention we’ve seen for these pulped hybrid process coffees. In Ethiopia, tej is a very local, very common sweet and sour spirit not unlike mead, created by fermenting honey then aging and adding herbs and spices. We felt this was appropriate nomenclature, given the unconventional processing method and nod to a distinctly Ethiopian product. ለጤናችን (Leutanachen / Cheers!)

Green Analysis by Chris Kornman

You’d never guess this coffee was honey-processed by the prep. Its clean, polished green appearance keeps a lid on the fact that the parchment was dried in mucilage. It’s a very dense, nicely sorted grade 2. Typically dry for a washed Ethiopia, besides the high density its standout feature is screen size. A steady 70% of the lot falls between screens 15 and 16 (and over 90% 14-17), which should make it a little easier than the average Ethiopia to track development and color changes during the roast.

Roast Analysis by Jen Apodaca

A truly lovely coffee, performed well on both roasts. Our second roast, PR-0327, had clearer and more present florals on the cupping table compared to our first roast, PR-0326, which had more developed sugar browning flavors. These two roasts are a good example of how we would roast this coffee for a single origin espresso (PR-0326) and for filter brew (PR-0327). Although both have the same end temperature, their ColorTrack scores were very different, nearly 3 points apart.

When we look at the chart that displays the different stages of roasting between the two roasts, we can see that almost 65% of PR-0326 is Maillard reactions. PR-0327, on the other hand, is much less with only 56% of the total duration with Maillard reactions changing the color of the coffee. To achieve the shorter, lighter roast, we relied on a hotter drum using a high charge temperature and low gas, with a large boost of heat before the Maillard reactions begin. We kept the flame high through the finish because of the dense nature of this coffee and we wanted to get a relatively high end temperature in a short amount of time which gave us a lot of acid complexity in the cup.

Brew Analysis by Chris Kornman

Brewing a comparison of the two roasts in identical Chemex produced some interesting results. At a standard ratio and grind, the coffee in both cases responded very slowly to water. The resulting brews, even at 9 minutes, were tasty, but low in soluble material. Curious about how to work with this coffee, I asked Richard to try a Kalita and see if he could get the brew time under 4 minutes. Using a higher coffee to water ratio, Richard’s brew still took nearly 5 minutes, was high in solubles but still relatively low extraction percentage. Regardless, we tended to favor Jen’s lighter second roast, PR-0327, and Richard’s Kalita brew was seen as offering a bit more clarity and distinct floral notes than the Chemex. If you’re brewing this coffee in small batches, keep in mind you may have to wait a little longer than you’re accustomed to for similarly tasty coffees.

This coffee is available in full size bags as well. Contact Us to find out more.